Way to get girls (?!): the new column for the new Dragon.

[psionotic]

I didn't love the first column, but I'm looking forward to further posts... Her book, which I flipped through at a B&N the other day, is really great. Funny, sweet, and warm-hearted. I'm getting it for my wife for X-Mas (she's a part time Dread Necromancer...)

Shelly has a personal/professional website, for those who are interested:
http://shellymazzanoble.com/wordpress/


Edit: 300 posts! Where's my brownie..?!

 

[Wormwood]

Many newspaper and magazine columns use an informal voice, especially where the style and tone is supposed to be tounge-in-cheek and at least somewhat humorous. It's obvious that her column is meant to be both.

Cute article written from an unexpected, fresh point of view.

I'm shocked, shocked that some gamers are complaining about this! Normally, fans are so welcoming of change and diversity of opinion.

Puzzling.

 

[Varianor Abroad]

QFT. It is wrong to assume people are sexist if they don't like an article that a woman wrote. There have been plenty of excellent articles written by women. This just isn't one of them. However, I don't know if the fear of girls thing was actually a statement that people are sexist, rather than an opportunity to show a youtube parody of D&D players-- though I like Summoner Geeks better.

It was both, but it wasn't aimed at any one person. Honestly, the thread is rife with veiled sexist references. Those have tapered off and now it's Extreme Style Deconstruction (premiere next week on The English Speaking World Channel!) Everyone seems so jumpy about it. Why can't those who dislike it register a polite, non-judgmental comment? Instead some posters are pillorying the author. Others are clearly having fun. Some are just making popcorn and waiting for this to slide toward threadlock. I guess I need to go make popcorn since I really don't want to contribute to that possibility.

 

[PoeticJustice]

I liked it, and it's a good representation of what advantages DI can offer, because this article could never appear in a print magazine. That said, I'm still not stoked over online Dragon to consider paying for it.

 

[Cadfan]

I'm not shocked that people are complaining.

I'm shocked that people are complaining in the particular way they're complaining. Some of the complaints are so far outside the realm of the reasonable that I find it difficult to believe that they're honest opinions rather than best efforts at attacking the article for some perceived offense.

 

[bento]

Well considering British people call cookies "biscuits", there's always confusion when it comes to baked goods. A biscuit is a roll and used either in breakfast sandwiches or smothered in white gravy.

I thought her writing is reminiscent of Douglas Coupland, author of "Generation X", "Microserfs" and a dozen or so novels about GenX angst.

"Childhood recollections" check
"Life lessons learned" check
"Brand name - name dropping" check
"Somewhat menacing, possibly psycho-sexual innuendos" check
"Large part of narrative taking place at workplace" check
"References to arcane/technical lingo (ISO)" check

Since Mr. Coupland is also from the Northwest (Vancouver BC) it must be something in the water.

I liked it, but I don't know about every month.

 

[Lonely Tylenol]

I'd be willing to bet a similar number would have trouble with parlance as well. But just because something is not in everyone's usual vocabulary, that's not really an indication that its use is deficient in a magazine article.

Well, perhaps not in the New Yorker, but for a gaming magazine? Understand, I think it's great when people are forced to add to their vocabulary. 1st edition AD&D was full of archaic and underused words, and helped shape the vocabulary of a lot of kids. However, from the perspective of a magazine going for mass appeal on an international basis, they might want to watch the number of dictionary checks required per article.

 

[wgreen]

edit: dammnit wgreen! wgreen Must Be Stopped!

I need to be strung up by my toes and beaten with a cane until I am ready to listen to reason.

-Will "and I'll like it, too!" Ooi

 

[delericho]

FWIW, I knew both ribald and conflate. Indeed, I think I may well have first encountered 'conflate' in Dragon magazine.

I didn't get "ISO of" at first glance, or "Kashi", but neither of those is really a problem. Oh, and despite being from the UK, I had no problem with 'brownies' - it struck me as fairly obvious that it was confectionary, not children.

 

[mhensley]

That was the best article I've read in Dragon in a very long time. No, it wasn't crunchy and it didn't have anything for me to use in a game, but it was very readable and entertaining. It was certainly better than those Wil Wheaton articles that used to pollute Dungeon.